Tag Archives: atheism

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Have you ever been confronted by non believers? who claim that the basis for the Christian faith is a myth.

Many non believers out of pure hatred for the faith will say such things even though they themselves either have biased evidence against Christianity or no evidence at all.

On 20th November 2016 Va Ndoro in His article “Religion incompatible with truth, science” he wrote ” Christianity is based on assumptions. That is, according to Va Ndoro, Christianity is based on mere claims that are not backed by proof. We Christians take the Person, Ministry, Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ, to be basis for our Faith.

According to Va Ndoro therefore Christ is a mere assumption, they is no proof that He was ever born, lived, died & resurrected. According to Va Ndoro Christ never had a ministry, he never did what the bible says He did, in fact Va Ndoro indirectly attacks #Scripture for Scripture in its entirety points to Christ.

Therefore since Va Ndoro says Christianity is based on assumptions, what this means is that The Ministry, Life, person, death, resurrection, teachings, gospel of Christ is a mere assumption without #proof and therefore a lie. Wait a minute dont we have proof for Christ, also what kind of proof does Va Ndoro need?

The valid form of proof that Va Ndoro requires must be from actual experience or observation. That is va Ndoro implies that Christ will only be real to Him if Science can prove, this is despite the fact that science uses inductive logic which draws probable not certain conclusions based on what the premises provide evidence for.

Now the the birth, life and ministry of Jesus Christ is a historical fact, but since Va Ndoro wants only evidence in form of things He can touch, sniff, see, hear and taste, he wont accept historical facts as valid evidence no matter what source shows it to have been a real event in history. Since Historical events themselves can neither be tasted, sniffed, seen, heard or touched, Va Ndoro being an #empiricist will not accept the Historical Jesus.

INCONSISTENT

When Va Ndoro says that Christianity is based on assumption what he actually means is that Christianity is based on claims that cannot be proven by empiricism. Therefore what He means is:

Claims that cannot be proved by observation are false

The basis of Christianity is a claim that cannot be proven by observation

Therefore the basis of Christianity is false.

Clearly Va Ndoro is being inconsistent, here is why: He discounts historical accounts of Jesus in His articles as mere myths not worth taking any look into.

Yet Va Ndoro Himself explains the word “truth” according to how its essence was named and explained in extinct languages such as Sanskrit, ancient #Egyptian… The question is, how did Va Ndoro prove that indeed these languages once found use in the past? Its quite obvious that Va Ndoro read history books or referred to authors who made use of historical records to prove that Sanskrit and Ancient Egyptian are ancient languages. Va Ndoro would love to believe that #Sanskrit was once a language found on the face of the earth, that is a Historical fact. Yet Va Ndoro discounts Jesus in spite of overwhelming evidence in historical records chief of which is the bible.

Enough of the illogical and and therefore invalid objections of Va Ndoro, Below is what Charles Spurgeon says about the #resurrection.

“The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the best attested facts on record. There were so many witnesses to behold it, that if we do in the least degree receive the credibility of men’s testimonies, we cannot and we dare not doubt that Jesus rose from the dead.

It is all very easy for infidels to say that these persons were deceived, but it is equally foolish, for these persons could not every one of them have been so positively deceived as to say that they had seen this man, whom they knew to have been dead, afterwards alive; they could not all, surely, have agreed together to help on this imposture: if they did, it is the most marvellous thing we have on record, that not one of them ever broke faith with the others, but that the whole mass of them remained firm.

We believe it to be quite impossible that so many rogues should have agreed for ever. They were men who had nothing to gain by it; they subjected themselves to persecution by affirming the very fact; they were ready to die for it, and did die for it.
Five hundred or a thousand persons who had seen him at different times, declared that they did see him, and that he rose from the dead; the fact of his death having been attested beforehand.

How, then, dare any man say that the Christian religion is not true, when we know for a certainty that #Christ died and rose again from the dead? And knowing that, who shall deny the divinity of the Saviour? Who shall say that he is not mighty to save? Our faith hath a solid basis, for it hath all these witnesses on which to rest, and the more sure witness of the Holy Spirit witnessing in our hearts.”

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Here is a response to Mr. Shingai Rukwata Ndoro’s article “God is reasoning for scientific ignorance”. Va Ndoro is an atheist whose otherwise blasphemous articles appear in the Religious section of sundaymail.co.zw as you will realise Va Ndoro bundles all of religion as having basis in scientific ignorance. All of Va Ndoro’s arguements are better suited as descriptions of pagan idols not the Triune God. In my response I prove that Va Ndoro’s veiled attacks on Christianity are not only false but are no match to the superior truth claims of Christianity. Below each paragraph from Va Ndoro`s article is my response.

VA NDORO : THE core of a religious disposition is that the source and sustenance of life is from the causative and creative power of a supernatural force or power, a deity. Such a deity or “God” is then assumed to be humanoid or anthropological with “an appearance, character and resembling that of a human being.”

MBOFANA : There is nothing anthropological about the Trinitarian God in the Christian Religion, The Bible says God is Spirit, Va Ndoro’s description can only be correct if He is describing pagan deities. Also we do not assume they is God, we KNOW they is God because He has revelaed himself to us in His revelation. Maybe Va Ndoro wanted to describe Jesus who as we all know had a human nature, but then again Jesus was both Divine and Human, this is not even what Va Ndoro knows and either way His description of God doesnt amount into an objection since he is describing something other than the God of the bible hence any objection to the God of the bible must follow a correct description otherwise it cannot be an objection worth wasting time on.

VA NDORO : The deity is also assumed to actively intervene, respond to and get involved in daily human behaviour. It does so by requiring appeasement through perpetual petitioning, invocations and supplications combined with fervent adorations.

To say that God merely intervines is an understatement let me state it here that God has decreed everything that comes to pass according to the pleasure of His will. In fact God is omni present, OMNIPOTENT and omniscient, thus Va Ndoro here misunderstands what we know about God and any conclusion deduced from this misunderstanding on Shingai’s part cannot be accepted as valid.

VA NDORO Scientifically, each individual is a biological seed and product of the sexual relationship of one’s parents. Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Rastafarianism) then ridiculously claim the whole humanity is a seed of Abraham.At the beginning of life in general or origins of humanity in particular, they placed a humanoid deity as narrated in Genesis.

Va Ndoro here comes up with a blanket statement, The bible clearly tells us that every human is a biological descendant of Adam the first man, not Abraham. Thus again Va Ndoro rushes to make false assertions which will invariably lead to a false conclusion. As I explained in the first paragraph, God is Triune, a concept that is biblical that Va Ndoro may not be able to comprehend. God is Spirit, He is not human like Va Ndoro would otherwise want people to believe.

VANDORO The human failure to explain certain things has been the “evidence” for the existence of a deity assumed to have caused everything. Ancients had to find an appropriate name for the force of life or cosmic energy.

MBOFANA This assumes that Christians have given the name “God” to cosmic ernegy or force, though they actually may not know this. However again this is false because the definition of God according to Christians is way broader beyond the definition of Cosmic ernegy or force in so many ways to an extent that Christians could never have ever invented God as to fill a gap pertaining their lack of knowledge pertaining cosmology. However his understanding of god best describes pantheistic religions such as that of ancient ROme within which where multiple gods and one particurlarly represantantive of “cosmic ernegy or force. Therefore since Va Ndoro cannot even accurately describe the Triune God, He has no right therefore to conclude that the Triune God is reasoning for scientific ignorance.

VA NDORO Among all the organised religions, Christianity is the only one without such a name of a deity because the word “God” came into Christianity from a Germanic mythical ancestor, “Gaud/Gawd/Gott,” after the 9th century.Before that, the deity was called “Theos” (Greek Concordance #2316, assumed to be the “supreme force that created and sustains the universe”) and Latin “Deus/Dieu” (itself derived from the chief deity of the Greek pantheon, “Zeus”(#2203), meaning, “lighting, brightness of sky, and clarity of vision”) (Etymology Dictionary).

MBOFANA Another assertion by Va Ndoro, who hopes to carry away many people who may not know Christian doctrine so well. The name of God is sure to be dependant on language and this is not a problem for even God’s revelation has been translated into various languages. And even if there are multiple names for God how is this an objection against His existence, how is this empirical evidence for God’s non existence. Also how is this even proof that “God” is reasoning for scientific ignorance.

VA NDORO Since nature abhors a vacuum, the religious people made up some assumptions that cannot be supported by empirical evidence

MBOFANA I assume, Va Ndoro here means that God cannot be proven by empirical evidence and well, so what if empirircsm cannot prove God? How is this an objection against God’s existence. How is this therfore evidence that God is an invetion of fearful, insecure people and even then can Va Ndoro prove it the thoughts of those that He claims invented the idea about God using empiricsm. ideas, thoughts, dreams cannot be proven by observation, Thus if empiricism cannot prove some things it therefore cannot prove all things and if it cannot prove all things then by that token it cannot be concluded that what empiricsm cannot prove does not exist. Just because empiricsm cannot prove God it does not mean God does not exist.

VA NDORO To the scientific minded, a deity is a formless variable and gap filler for the religious regarding the following:

MBOFANA How can something formless be a variable. How can non existence vary. Formlesness means non existence. What does this even mean? Does it mean scientific people believe in contradictory statements or what..?

VA NDORO Third, paternal and superior humanoid figure, this is to whom humans look up to with attributes of an alpha male, considered craving for people’s recognition and in turn controls and is intrusive in people’s lives. An individual’s conscience and empathy is then subjected to fear or avoidance of pain or loss instead of responsibility and accountability.

MBOFANA Let Va Ndoro first prove by observation that a conscience exists, an empathy exists, then having done so let him prove that God subjects these two to fear instead of accountability and responsibility. Let him prove by way of observation and senses that scientific knowledge is the source of acccountability and responsibility, then having done so let him prove by by observation alone the concept of acconatbility and responsibility.
The god who craves for attention invented in the minds of insecure and cowardly men is indeed an idol, for such are the attributes of the idols according to the bible, however Va Ndoro cannot claim to know this if he is to be faithful to his system. Since empiricsm cannot prove historical events I could ask him how his senses led him to know that the ancient people created god out of an emotianal need and fear of uncertainity. Thats if observation can even prove there is an such thing as an emotion.

God is not a human figure, He cant die, He is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Here Shingai claims God has attributes of an alpha male, yet this comparison is false according to the bible for an alpha male is top because he is competing where they are plenty other beta and alpha males. The alpha male competes for a mate, for a job, for survival. God competes with nobody, He is sovereign and His plans cannot be thwarted, He does what He wants when he wants.

VA NDORO For example, when human beings do not know the bio-chemical processes of a diseased body, they will explain it superstitiously. Fifth, social and historical phenomena – the perpetual conflict between positive and negative, good and evil, vitality and decay.

MBOFANA Here Shingai says that humans without knowledge of biochemical processes will be superstitious, thereby even by that measure He implies that God is a supersticious idea invented by humans who lack particular information for which they have substituted with the idea of God and once humans find the information for which they had created God as gap filler Shingai assumes that such people will immidiately abandon the idea and belief in God.

The above arguement is invalid first because here Shingai draws parallels betwen two events whose cause isnt necessarily similar as i prove below. According to Shingai : Lack of scientific knowledge causes people to be superstitious. To believe in God is superstitious. Therefore those who beleive in God have no scientific knowledge.

As you can see they way too many scientists of repute known to have been believers in the Triune God thus lack of scientific knowledge cannot be attributed as a cause of belief in God nor can it be attributed as a sole cause of abandoned belief in God. Therefore His argument cannot be a valid proof that God is reasoning for scientific ignorance.

“Indeed, those ancient, ignorant people who believed in the virgin birth of Christ must have believed it because they did not possess the knowledge of how babies were born. Goodness. The virgin birth of Christ was profound and of paramount concern to the ancients precisely because they understood that conception was impossible without intercourse. Ancient man considered the virgin birth miraculous, i.e., impossible without divine action (and at the time most people scorned the idea), and the same could be said with every miraculous story in Scripture”. – Eric Hyde [ ehyde.wordpress.com/ top-10-most-common-atheist-arguements-and-why-they-fail]

VA NDOROThe method of science is to find and provide a credible, verifiable and objective explanation based on empirical evidence of the “How” of natural phenomenon. It continuously improves with further research.

MBOFANA Since Va Ndoro belives thinks that in order to verify any, science must be deployed, let Shingai prove by His methods that they is such a thing as credible. Also this is a false assertion for a number of reasons. By verifiable Va Ndoro means that a scientific experiment can be repeated over and over thus producing the exact results. However Science has multiple problems and i will present only one below:
1. Science affirms the consquent, what this means is that its assumed that if an event A followed event B therefore Event A caused Event B.
According to Va Ndoro : Lack of scientific knowledge causes people to be superstitious. To believe in God is superstitious. Therefore those who beleive in God have no scientific knowledge.
In the above example Va Ndoro assumes that the belief in God is caused by lack in scientific knowledge, this is a lie, There maybe a dozen reasons other than lack of scientific knowledge causing people to believe in God.

Finally in the last 3 paragraphs Va Ndoro quotes Sigmund Freud as support for His veiled attack on Christianity. My arguments against His in the rest of the article can clearly be used to show that even his appeal to Sigmund Freud is no basis for thinking that God is reasoning for scientific ignorance.